Subsidence, Wall Cracks, Sink Holes, Stump Damage

Structural Engineer Reports needed from Forensic Engineers.

These are cases we deal with every day.

Case 1) A house at Warner had serious settlements under a slab. We found the causes, assessed the slab condition and gave expert recommendations to re-support the slab. In this case pressure grouting was the most practical and affordable repair.

Case 2) A Tweed Heads house with possibly serious subsidence problems. We found that there had been some footing settlements a long time ago, but the house was now stable. Some drainage work and expert crack repair required - no underpinning needed! A terrific result.

Case 3) Walloon house with serious slab movements. We are in Walloon just about every week! If you are looking to buy a house in this area and the Building & Pest Report finds wall cracks - for peace-of-mind, call us to arrange an Expert Structural Engineer Report. In most cases there are some movements of the house footings and site works can help to keep the house relatively stable. In other cases where serious movements and damages are evident, traditional underpinning is the most effective method for stabilization, level correction and crack closure.

Case 4) A house on-the-market at Stafford. The buyer was concerned that damaged stumps have caused structural damages to the house. Our expert investigation found that apart from some stumps that were past their "use-by" date, the house was "sound-as-a pound".

Forensic Engineers: Expert Structural Engineer Reports


House for Sale with Wall & Driveway Cracks

A building & Pest Report had picked up some suspicious cracks in the house walls and in the driveway slab.

And the home buyer was rightly concerned, and contacted Forensic Engineers for an expert investigation and report.

Our meticulous inspection found that the house wall cracks were from some initial, slight settlements of the footings, but none were serious at all. The driveway cracks, however, were not "typical" and were from poor concreting.

The important thing was that ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ป๐—ผ ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—น๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€. And most importantly, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ผ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—น๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ.

The driveway and wall cracks could be repaired by an expert tradesman that we recommended to the buyer.

Happy home buyers and sellers. Expert Structural Engineer Reports: Forensic Engineers


Home Owner Saved Thousands on Underpinning

Structural Engineer Underpinning Report:

This is a recent case in Marsden and there has been some serious subsidence. We identified the causes and recommended some conventional underpinning to support the settled footings and to correct the level variations. Fortunately the problem was only for one corner of the house and our estimate was for 6 or 7 underpins, and the cost would be quite reasonable.
We were astounded when the home owner told us an Underpinner's Free Home Assessment had estimated for at least a dozen underpins and that would be twice the actual cost!
We recommended that the owner should get in touch with Mal at MP Underpinning to get a more reasonable proposal.

Thinking of underpinning? Contact us for an Expert Structural Engineer Report.

We Are Independent and We Aren't Trying to Sell You Anything.


Possible Subsidence; Building & Pest Alert

The owner of this classic home had a Building & Pest Report before putting it on the market.

The house has double brick walls throughout and there were some scary wall cracks that could be off-putting for buyers.
But thank goodness the Real Estate Agent recommended the home owner should contact Forensic Engineers.
Good News though! Our thorough Structural Engineer Report found that the house only had some slight footing settlement issues, some old and some recent.
But the house was solidly built and the settlements were only minor.
Some simple drainage work was required to stop seepage getting under the footings, but that was not complicated or expensive. And the wall cracks were simple to repair with an elastomeric (stretchy) grout.
The owners and buyers were thrilled with our Structural Engineer Report and the house was quickly SOLD.ย 

Concerned about house Subsidence & Wall Cracks? Call Forensic Engineers for an Expert Structural Engineer Report


Structural Engineer Reports - Every Day

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER REPORTS - Every Day.

Case #1; a Townhouse in Pimpama

This unit had wall Cracks and we found they had occurred some time ago, had not grown and were not serious. The townhouse is sound-as-a-pound!

Case #2; a house at Paradise Point

A column that had settled and fractured. Very soft sands and a leaking storm drain were the causes and the footing needed underpinning. Problem solved!.

Case #3; a house in Silkstone

The house had some footing movements which were not serious. Thank goodness, because Silkstone is renowned for highly plastic clay soil which can cause serious foundation movements and house damages. Peace-of-mind for the home owner.

Case #4; a unit in Annerley

A unit with some scary ceiling cracks which were were not serious and simple to repair. Patch and paint only required.

Inspection #5 was in Brookwater

An insurance claim where a car had crashed into a retaining wall and fence. Our investigation for the insurer found the the damages to the retaining wall were limited to one post being pushed sideways. Post & footing needed replacement and the wall wales could be re-used. The insurer and the home owner were very happy with our report.

Expert Structural Engineer Reports - Every Day


Structural Engineer Reports

๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—ฅ๐—จ๐—–๐—ง๐—จ๐—ฅ๐—”๐—Ÿ ๐—˜๐—ก๐—š๐—œ๐—ก๐—˜๐—˜๐—ฅ ๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—ง๐—ฆ, ๐—ฆ๐—จ๐—•๐—ฆ๐—œ๐——๐—˜๐—ก๐—–๐—˜, ๐—ช๐—”๐—Ÿ๐—Ÿ ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—”๐—–๐—ž๐—ฆ, ๐—ฆ๐—Ÿ๐—”๐—• ๐—–๐—ฅ๐—”๐—–๐—ž๐—ฆ, ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ข๐—Ÿ ๐——๐—”๐— ๐—”๐—š๐—˜๐—ฆ, ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—จ๐— ๐—ฃ ๐——๐—”๐— ๐—”๐—š๐—˜, ๐—™๐—˜๐—ก๐—–๐—˜ ๐——๐—”๐— ๐—”๐—š๐—˜

Expert Investigations to identify damages and causes and the best repair solutions and repair contractors.

In many cases we can offer peace-of-mind, with simple cost-effective methods.

Every day. Every week. Home owners, buyers, sellers, property managers rely on Forensic Engineers for honest, accurate Structural Engineer Reports.

๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ RPEQ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—˜๐—ป๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€. ๐—™๐—ข๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—ก๐—ฆ๐—œ๐—– ๐—˜๐—ก๐—š๐—œ๐—ก๐—˜๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—ฆ


Own, Buying or Selling a House with Cracks?

Wall, ceiling or floor cracks & gaps?

It may be simple wear & tear, or it may be a sign of some Subsidence.
It may also Subsidence that is serious and could gradually get worse and worse.
And there are also cases where subsidence & cracks have cleverly been covered up, particularly with houses that are renovated & "flipped".

Expert Structural Engineer Reports

Our expert Structural Engineer Reports identify old and new subsidence and cracks and determine if they are serious or wear-and-tear. And if if they are likely to get worse and if any stabilizing or underpinning is necessary.

Peace-of-Mind

Building cracks can develop by wear & tear or from foundation movements and Forensic Engineers are the independent experts to turn to for an expert analysis and for peace-of-mind.
Contact us for a free quote for an independent engineer report.

Strata and Body Corp Engineer Reports for Subsidence and Underpinning

๐—•๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜† ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฝ & ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฎ ๐—˜๐—ป๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐˜€!

๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€. ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜†๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐˜€. ๐—”๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€

In this case the Body Corp called us in to investigate and report on this townhouse with subsidence and wall cracks and gaps that were getting worse and worse. It turned out that other engineers had previously looked at the building and had decided that subsidence had occurred in the past and had stopped and and the damages were not serious and could be patched and painted. Sadly, they were wrong.

We found that the townhouse was actually located on ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น that was gradually ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด, bit-by-bit, year after year, and stabilization with ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป.

In this case, Resin / Chemical Underpinning was not considered appropriate and Steel Screw piers would be far too expensive and not even necessary.

The most reliable and cost effective method was with conventional underpinning using reinforced concrete piers and head-stocks.

๐—™๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—˜๐—ป๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜† ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฝ & ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฎ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐˜€.

Super fast quotes, inspections & reports.

๐—”๐—ป๐—ฑ, ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—˜๐—ป๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ, ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ, ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ% ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜.


Resin Injection Underpinning Needed

This Gymnasium floor is out-of-level and keeps on moving.

Our investigation found the property is on compressible river alluvial soils that are subsiding.

Flood events and saturation of the founding soils had also exacerbated the subsidence.

Our Structural Engineer Report recommended ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—จ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป for re-establisment of an even floor surface with no trip hazards.

There are many Companies offering Urethane Resin solutions to slab settlements and footing subsidence.

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜‡๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ, ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น. Depending the type of construction and the ground conditions most importantly, The Experience of the Company doing the work.

We have dealt with the best and the worst, Resin Injection Companies.

So if you are looking to Resin Injection Underpinning, contact us for an independent report first.

Expert Structural Engineer Reports: Forensic Engineers.


Body Corporate 5 Star Review!

BODY CORP STRUCTURAL ENGINEER REPORTS

SUBSIDENCE, WALL CRACK, UNDERPINNING SPECIALISTS

5 Star Review from a Body Corporate!

"Forensic Engineers were engaged by our Body Corporate at very short notice to conduct an inspection of our townhouse after another Engineering firm provided a less than satisfactory inspection & report on our premises.

They undertook the inspection yesterday in a very timely manner, after ensuring the full scope of work was agreed on by all stakeholders. Before leaving they gave a very much appreciated verbal debrief of his findings to us (the owner occupiers) & our BCC Chair. Their comprehensive report was completed very promptly overnight and sent to stakeholders this morning (Good Fridayโ€ฆa public holiday).

Forensic Engineers have to be commended for their vast professional knowledge, keen attention to detail; and their ability to call โ€˜a spade a spadeโ€™. We are very happy with the service Forensic Engineers has provided. Thumbs up, John & Simone"

- John and Simone

Forensic Engineers: Specialists in Engineer Reports for Body Corps.


0403 434 092